Ndigbo are not your enemies, Umeh tells Buhari

The National Chairman of the All Progressive
Grand Alliance, Chief Victor Umeh, has
appealed to the President-elect, Gen.
Muhammadu Buhari(retd.), not to vilify Ndigbo
for not voting massively for him during the
Presidential poll.
Umeh who made the appeal at a press
conference in Umuahia, the Abia State capital,
said the massive support Ndigbo gave to
President Goodluck Jonathan though he lost at
the poll was based on the conviction of the
people that Jonathan represented hope for
their political future.
He said " Buhari should not see Ndigbo as his
enemies. We are not against Buhari but were
only pursuing our political interest.
"We were looking for somebody who would
help Ndigbo recover from the ruins of the civil
war. Jonathan convened a national conference
and we felt that the report of the conference
would address most of the injustices against
Ndigbo, that was why we followed him.
" But now that the election is won and lost we
should not be seen as enemies. We hope God
will still use Buhari to address our many
challenges. He should adopt the report of the
conference .
" Buhari will not succeed if he fails to address
the injustices in Nigeria or treats Ndigbo as his
enemies. We will embrace him and support
him if he shows concern for our plights.
" What we followed in the last election was the
line of hope we saw in Jonathan. We are
looking for a way Ndigbo can come back to
Nigeria's political tripod and survive.
" If Buhari had promised to implement the
report of the conference, maybe we would
have voted for him en mass . But now he
should look for a way to accommodate us and
give us a sense of belonging in his
government."
The APGA boss, however, said all hope was not
lost for Ndigbo politically as APGA would
provide the tribe with the opportunity to be
re-integrated into national politics.
He, therefore, called for the people of South
East to help in reviving APGA by voting
massively for all its candidates at the April 11
Governorship and House of Assembly polls to
serve as a political platform to advance the
cause of the Igbo nation.